Conference 7.286::digital

    There is a group called RECO (Real Estate and Construction Organization
    I think) that handles most of the real estate (buy, rent, lease)
    and renovation work for the company. They do a lot of the planning
    for all purchases of land and buildings. They also get involved
    in construction and remodeling of facilities. I believe that anyone
    who needs a new plant works with them to pick location etc.

    They have several lines in the DEC phone book under Property
    Development.
        
    			Alfred

>        I'm sure there are many criterion for DEC to consider when locating
>    a site in a town or city or even state.
    
    or even a country....
    
    Many governements are big customers. They play games:
    
    We buy 100M$ or more of your stuff if You create 100 jobs in Our country.

        
    

	Another thing they look at when moving a facility is where the
	employees of that facility live, so as to minimize the
	number of people who will need relocation.  This, apparantly,
	is one of the reasons the new Training Center is going to 
	Boylston instead of Plymouth, or so I heard.
Frank

    BUT WHAT IS GOING INTO PLYMOUTH ?
    
    ANYTHING ?
    
    Input would help quell commutational psychosis...thanks
    

    	The word that I got on the large tract of land in Plymouth Ma.
    is that they were looking for a place for FS and customer training
    when they bought the land. Unfortunatly there are problems of no
    water and waste removal. These problems, I was told, would cost
    mega_bucks to overcome and therefore the land would not be developed.
    

    I believe that the DEC land is on Beaver Dam Road and is down the road 
    from the town dump.  Its one of the few landfills open in the area.
    
    I heard that DEC decided not to locate a plant there is because
    of Boston Edison.  If I am correct about the location of the land,
    then the transmission lines from Pilgrim run close to the property.
    
    
    Bryan

    To put things in perspective, the land  DEC owns in Plymouth
    is larger in area than the town of Maynard.  It is at Exit 3 off
    Route 3 and is Beaver Dam Road.  The land is on both sides of the
    highway.  There is an abundance of wildlife on the property.  It
    is also 15 minutes from my house.
    
    jim

    re: .7 and others
    
    OK..so DEC owns the land.....now....
    
    	how do we get uncle Ken to let us all work there,close to home?
    
    	If that's "food for thought", then I think I'm starving.....
    
    	Murphy wasn't an optimist - he was a damned Pollyanna.
    

    Can we please limit this topic to the discussion of *how* Digital
    decides where to place facilities, and not a wishlist of *where*
    Digital should place facilities? There are other topics dealing
    with specific geographic locations.
    
    Thank you.
    
    (We now return you to your topic, already in progress.)

    Since there seems to be alot of interest in a potential Plymouth
    site, I'm taking the iniative by starting a new note in this conference
    about Plymouth.  See you all at the last note!!
    
    Bryan

    Since we're not talking about Plymouth anymore, let's talk about where
    they may have originally came from...
    
    Digital along with several other US companies took some hits in the New
    York Times today for increasing their foreign operations.  The weak
    dollar _was_ supposed to limit foreign manufacturing operations.
    
    The semiconductor facility in Scotland is mentioned in the fourth
    paragraph.
    
    Digital is not quoted but our expansion in France and Taiwan our used
    as examples that the US does not have a lock on high-tech manufacturing
    capabilities.
    
    NEW YORK TIMES May 20, 1988 page 1 column 1, "Overseas Spending by
    US Companies Sets Record Pace"
              

Re: .11

In general local operations in any country should be seen as a positive
benefit.  Many organizations are much more likely to buy if the product is
locally produced.  Some organizations (usually governments) insist on it. 

Manufacturing in Europe (in the EC countries) is highly beneficial as it 
gives tariff-free access to the whole of the EC.  Also labour and transport 
costs are lower than in the US.  There are also tax breaks and other 
financial incentives for setting up operations in some countries.

I believe that it is morally wrong for a company the size of Digital not to
source components and make as much product locally to its markets as
possible.  Some countries force this by requiring local operations to be
set up to offset imports. 

Digital is now of a size that it is really an International Company that
happens to have its headquarters in the US.  It is no longer a US Company
that happens to have some foreign operations. 

> ... the US does not have a lock on high-tech manufacturing capabilities.

This is nothing but good - why should it anyway?  People who believe that
any one country should have a monopoly on technology (or most anything else
for that matter) should be shot.  In any case it's not true.  Japan for one 
has independently developed highly advanced manufacturing that in some
sectors is ahead of all other countries. 

Many people in power in the US were outraged by the shipment of machine
tools made by a Toshiba company to the USSR more because investigations
revealed that the technology involved was not of US origin but totally
Japanese than by the actual shipment having taken place. 

jb

    re:11,12
    
                                                             
    Whatever happened to good ol' colonial manifest destiny ?
          
    

    re .12
    
    Labour costs in Europe are no longer lower than in the US. Exchange
    rate changes have made that ancient history. (Hint: Compare Swiss
    and US salaries and cost of living!). According to a recently published
    survey which appeared on the French TV news last week, the Germans
    have now overtaken the Swiss as the top paid people in the world.
    US salaries are 25% lower on average, French salaries 33% lower,
    and UK salaries 50% lower!
    
    Maurice